Recruiting: Ohio State Loses Alex Anzalone, Sex Offender To Blame?
High school prospects decommitting from college football programs usually entail a hasty decision, a better offer or a desire to remain close to home. Rarely, if ever, are the actions of a sex offender the result.
But for recent Ohio State pledge Alex Anzalone, a linebacker from Pennsylvania, he’s no longer a Buckeye due to a very, very creepy situation.
Anzalone visited Columbus on April 21st for Ohio State’s spring game. After that contest, he committed to the Buckeyes. However, that same day Charles Eric Waugh, a registered sex offender in Kentucky (for possession of explicit images of underage boys) sought out the linebacker and had a picture snapped of himself, Anzalone, Ohio State commit Joey Bosa and Notre Dame commit Mike Heuerman.
According to Mike Drago at the Reading Eagle, that incident severely upset the Anzalone family and led to his decision to end his short-lived Ohio State commitment.
“There’s a disconnect between what Alex thought was was there (at Ohio State) and what is actually there,” said his father, Dr. Sal Anzalone. Anzalone and his father spoke to Ohio State assistant coach Luke Fickell Friday afternoon to express their concerns and to de-commit. “Something’s just not right at Ohio State,” Sal Anzalone said. “It’s not for him.”
Their anger is understandable though I find it difficult to place blame on the school itself. Agents, runners or pedophiles could seek out individuals on every college campus in the country. Unless Waugh held a Nevin Shapiro-type connection to the program, and by all accounts, he certainly did not, the Buckeyes simply were the victim of a terribly overzealous fan exhibiting stupidly ridiculous behavior.
Chronicled earlier in the week by the SB Nation site Land-Grant Holy Land, Waugh interacted with recruits, current players, former players and administrators via Twitter. He sent them inspirational quotes and in the case of a recruit, that’s an NCAA violation. Encouraging a high school student to attend your alma mater online probably won’t earn the school sanctions but it’s creepy, worthless and a headache for compliance.
Thankfully, level-headed Ohio State fans alerted the athletic department and swiftly, Buckeye compliance sent a mass email detailing Waugh’s involvement and the mandate that players, recruits and employees avoid, block and ignore him.
“We strongly recommend that you take the steps (see links below) to block his access to your Twitter and Facebook accounts,” Archie said in the email. “In addition, we’ve enclosed a photograph and a link to a news article regarding this individual. As a reminder, the individuals who you associate with on social networking sites (i.e., Twitter, Facebook) can have negative implications on your reputation and the university. Please remember to choose your ‘social media friends’ carefully!”
At the cost of an All-American recruit (the linebacker may or may not consider the Buckeyes), I imagine many Ohio State fans are content with Eric Waugh losing his ability to ever hinder the Buckeyes again. That won’t please Urban Meyer but it’s a necessary denouement to a frightening climax.
Waugh and Anzalone cut ties, perhaps permanently for the latter, with Ohio State. Recruiting continues in Columbus with a slight blip but with ten months until Signing Day, the Buckeyes still ink a top five class.
College football is an addictive fix for many fans, alums and employees of major programs. None of those individuals should ever cause a recruit to forcefully change his mind on his collegiate choice.
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